Pittsburgh Bureau of Police officers from Zone 1 responded to 911 calls of a child abduction in progress outside the Sue Murray pool at 301 Cedar Avenue at approximately 6:10 p.m.
A 9-year-old boy told officers he was with a group of friends and cousins at the Sunoco gas station at 310 Cedar Avenue when they were approached by an adult female who offered to buy them their candy when they didn’t have any money.
The group of friends then walked back to the pool where they had been swimming all day, while the adult female walked along with them.
After swimming, the 9-year-old boy says he left the pool by himself from the Stockton Avenue exit to head home. Once outside, he said sat down in a paved lot across from the pool because his foot was sore. He says that is when the same adult female grabbed him by the arm and forced him to walk down Sandusky Street with her.
The boy’s cousin, a girl, observed that the boy was walking down the street towards downtown with the suspect and she alerted the lifeguard who called 911.
At this point, Zone 2 officers were alerted that the pair may be headed across the 7th Street Bridge downtown.
The boy later told police he boarded a bus with the suspect that travelled around downtown. He said he didn’t know the woman and that she told random people on the bus that they were related. Eventually the pair boarded another bus that came back to the North Side near where they originally boarded.
When they got off the bus, the boy went toward the pool where his friends were calling his name. The suspect went the opposite direction, but witnesses from the pool identified her to police, who placed her in custody.
The suspect was transported to police headquarters for questioning.
The boy was uninjured and did not want to see medics. He was safely returned to his family.
Any updates will be posted to the blotter.
UPDATE: Karastine Muyango, 18, of Braddock, PA has been charged with one count of Kidnapping For Ransom.
She is currently being held in Allegheny County Jail.